Gotham and the Gothamites.
[Judaica]. Judah, Samuel B. Gotham and the Gothamites, A Medley. New York: Published For the Author and Sold by S. King, 136 William Street, 1823.
12mo.; marbled endpapers; occasional pages foxed; rebound in contemporary red calf, stamped in gilt. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition: BAL 11020. Gotham and the Gothamites is a poetic satire, filled with clever caricatures of the many prominent New Yorkers who made up early 19th-century Jewish-American life in the city. Upon publication, however, some of Gotham’s targets determined that Samuel B. H. Judah was the anonymous author and sued him for libel; a court ruled that Gotham was indeed defamatory and Judah was sent to prison. This copy of Gotham is a real plum because of the autograph annotations throughout: someone, presumably a contemporary of the author, has gone through the book, noting in pencil the “true” names of Judah’s fictionalized characters.
Judah spent only a few weeks in jail; he was set free by New York’s Governor Yates, who cited a purported “sudden illness” on Judah’s part as a reason for the pardon. Upon his release Judah, previously an author specializing in poetry and melodrama, turned his attentions, understandably, to an entirely different field—law. Judah was admitted to the New York Bar and was—remarkably—for many years the only Jewish practicing attorney in all of New York City (UJE, Vol. 6, pp. 231-2). His other works included The Mountain Torrent, 1820; The Rose of Arrogan, 1820; Odofriede, The Outcast, 1822; and The Tale of Lexington, 1824.
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